Shana is a founding Partner of Beekeeper Group , a DC-based public affairs firm, where she helps a wide array of association clients with their communications and advocacy strategies, focusing on social media and online community building. Prior to launching Beekeeper Group, Shana was the Online Community Director for NextGenWeb.org, the online community of USTelecom, the broadband association. The cry is almost universal across associations and their member communities – we can’t find volunteers! CurationWhat Does Member Engagement Mean to You? MORE >>

The above model is something I’ve been thinking about for a while – and would love to now think through with you – that aims to present some guide and scale for participation, with the goal of helping us know what level of participation to pitch for our communities or projects. lot of the successes, and failures, that I see not only within Social Media but community engagement in general are linked to pitching at the right level of participation: Failure generally happens where the amount of participation is overestimated, and only a high level is provided. MORE >>

» ‘Curation,’ and journalists as curators The Latin root of the noun curator means “to care.&# But when Jeff Jarvis talks about “curation&# — which he has been doing for quite a while now — he means the activities of sorting, choosing, and display, which museum curators perform based on their extensive knowledge of the subject area of an exhibit. Then consider the job of the museum curator. If we talk about curation, we refer to more than a simple act of filtering. Curation,’ and journalists as curators. MORE >>

At the Search Engine Strategies San Francisco event Wednesday , Echo's Khris Loux sat down with me and representatives from UltraKnowledge , CBS Interactive (formerly CNET ) and CNN.com to discuss the rise of citizen journalism and social media, intertwined with traditional journalism, and how mainstream media outlets can adapt their practices to include curation as part of their offerings. As one knows, trusting the community is possible, but usually results in an across the board maligning of those who share opposing views. See: Smart People, Stupid Tweets. MORE >>

Are all bloggers also community managers? Jayme Soulati , in suggesting this topic , wondered if ignorance regarding community management might explain some blog failures. Because this post began as a comments-section Q&A, we’ll continue it in the same vein: What Is Community Management? Community management is the art of creating something by allowing it to create itself, then nurturing it by creating an environment in which it nurtures itself. Are Bloggers Community Managers? Are Failed Blogs Victims of Neglectful Community Management? MORE >>